Life in general, fiber arts in particular, near Twisp in the beautiful Methow Valley

Recent Rugs

It was really cold here the end of last week and over the weekend. As in negative digits Fahrenheit in the mornings! I think it was Saturday when it was -10 F. when we got up in the morning, and not getting above 15-16 F in the afternoon. But clear and sunny and beautiful with all the snow. Last evening the temperature started climbing (we are still only talking a “climb” from 5 to 9 degrees F. by the time we went to bed). But today felt almost balmy in comparison – I could even go outside in just a sweater and no coat to load stuff into the car without feeling like I was going to freeze to death.

I have been weaving steadily away on rugs for the 3-4 weeks, and do take pictures as I go along before they go out to the galleries. But I have fallen behind on my blogging! So here are some pictures. I have been trying to use up various materials I have had laying around, and trying some new things.

First I did a series of denim and/or corduroy rugs, to use up boxes and boxes of pre-washed strips I got from the woman from whom I bought my first loom. By the way, the “Rxxx” number is my rug number from the time I started weaving these about 5 years ago. Thus, R119 is my 119th rug.

R119: blue jeans denim in medium tones

R120: blue jeans sequenced from black through bleached

R121: grey and green corduroy, sequenced

R122: shirting weight cottons and corduroys, sequenced

R123: blue jeans denim in lighter tones

Next I turned my attention to a flannel duvet cover that my Dad gave me a while back. I wanted to try a method described in The Rag Rug Handbook by Janet Meany & Paula Pfaff. Yikes! It must be out of print and sought after, because they want a fortune for it on Amazon.com. There was also an article in Handwoven magazine that built on this idea – to preserve the color and pattern of a piece of cloth by cutting it 1.93 times as wide as the width of your rug in the reed, then sewing it into a tube and cutting it in a spiral fashion to get one long continuous strip of cloth to weave with. No-one explains where the 1.93 ratio comes from so I took it on faith.

I had to cut a piece off the side of the duvet cover to obtain the required width. That’s the strip that is shown with the rug. As you can see, it definitely preserved the color order and to a degree, the pattern of the original cloth.

R124: flannel duvet cover

This was so much fun that I then turned to hacking up two wool blankets that I got from someone who was clearing out their mother’s house. I didn’t worry about the 1.93 ratio, just used the full width of the blanket. I figured each blanket was big enough to get 2 rugs, so I divided them more or less in half lengthwise.

Blue, gold and cream blanket and rugs:

The blue blanket before sewing in a tube and cutting the strips

R125 and R126: blue blanket

Rose, gold and cream blanket and rugs:

The rose blanket before cutting into strips

R127 & R128: rose blanket

Pretty cool how the color order, even within the cream and gold stripes, was preserved.

Last week I decided to open some boxes marked “Leesburg afghan – Reds”. This is material I got with the first loom and it was time to either use it or get rid of it! These are afghan selvages from Leesburg Looms & Supplies in Ohio. My initial reaction was “holy cow, this stuff is UGLY”. I mean, some of this was really garish. But you know what, once I packed it into a rug and mixed up the colors, I was pleased with the result!

R129 – red afghan selvages

R130 – red afghan selvages

R131: scraping the bottom of the barrel

I have also been helping my neighbor set up a towel warp on my “Baby Mac” portable loom – taking her through the whole process of winding the warp, sleying the reed, threading the heddles, and today winding the warp onto the back beam. Sometime this week it will be ready for her to take the loom to her house to do the actual weaving. Let’s just say she has already expressed an appreciation for how much work goes into a handwoven product!

And I am knitting. Finished a beautiful lace scarf using Judith Mackenzie’s 30% bison/70% merino which I still need to photograph. Am finishing up a sweater I started over 2 years ago, as I will need it as a sample garment for teaching a class in Wenatchee at the end of February. And always knitting more Mosaic Mojo hats:

gray/tan Noro Silk Garden and blueberry Cascade 220

handpaint wool held with Kidsilk Haze, light teal Cascade 220

bright Noro Kureyon and violet Cascade 220

Sold two of these at the Winthrop Gallery yesterday, so I guess hat season isn’t over yet.